- President Trump said he will appoint his personal lawyer, James M. McDonald, as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, replacing Jay Clayton who’s been tapped for director of national intelligence.
- McDonald is on Trump’s legal team appealing his New York convictions and previously served in the Bush White House, at the CFTC and as a Sullivan & Cromwell partner; he was also involved in a recent DOJ decision tied to billionaire Gautam Adani.
- The SDNY post is one of the Justice Department’s most powerful (handling terrorism, espionage, fraud and public-corruption cases), and the announcement comes amid controversy over the DNI succession after Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation and the appointment of an acting director.
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